4 National Parks for the Foodie in You

It's hard to imagine a more perfect setting for afternoon tea. Against a backdrop of shimmering water, craggy mountains, and swaying pines, the Jordan Pond House Restaurant offers excellent dining in Maine's Acadia National Park. The Pond House also serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but afternoon tea — served daily from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. — offers a perfect opportunity to drop by for a sampling of the diverse menu between hours spent exploring the park. In addition to top-notch tea and coffee, be sure to try some of the local specialties, like delicious popovers, lobster stew, and Maine crab cakes. The Jordan Pond House reopens for the season on May 18, 2016.

Out in the wild heart of Washington's Olympic Peninsula, Kalaloch's Creekside Restaurant serves up fresh, local, and sustainable cuisine. Kalaloch's is certified by the Green Restaurant Association, and everything from the apples in the Pacific Health Blast smoothie to the seared jumbo Weathervane scallops is sourced from local farmers and fishermen. The menu is a fitting choice for the bountiful landscape of Olympic National Park, with its lush valleys, glacier-capped peaks, and ancient old-growth forests. Kalaloch's Creekside Restaurant is a great place to grab a hearty breakfast before you set out into the park. Build your own omelet, try the house special (salmon hash), or order a hefty stack of organic gluten-free buckwheat walnut pancakes.

Here's a fun fact for you: The first written recipe for vanilla ice cream in the United States was created in 1780 by none other than Thomas Jefferson. And if you're wondering what ice cream tasted like more than 200 years ago, all you have to do is head to Mount Rushmore National Monument, where the Memorial Team Ice Cream station serves delicious ice cream based on Jefferson's original recipe. So, when you visit Mount Rushmore this year, be sure to raise a cone in salute to the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the father of modern ice cream — Thomas Jefferson!

Yosemite National Park is one of our oldest parks, and it preserves one of America's most stunning natural landscapes. The cuisine at the Majestic Yosemite Dining Room lives up to the expectations of its surroundings with outstanding fine dining in a grand setting. The dining room is a part of the park's Majestic Yosemite Hotel, and you can enjoy your meal in a vast chandelier-lit room beneath 34-foot high-ceilings, surrounded by enormous pine trestles and granite pillars. The breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus are diverse and outstanding, but do yourself a favor and make it a point to enjoy the Majestic Yosemite Dining Room's legendary Sunday brunch.